Saturday, 5 January 2013

Calling Students Researching Working Men’s Clubs, Working Class History, Entertainment and Gender Issues
The Club Historians website is a useful resource for both undergraduates and graduates researching aspects of working class social history and, of course, clubs.

Another useful resource is Ruth Cherrington’s ‘Not Just Beer and Bingo! A Social History of Working Men’s Clubs’, published in 2012.

This is the first comprehensive account of WMCIU clubs from their 19th century to the current times.

With chapters on entertainment, going back to music hall, as well as two chapters on gender issues in the club movement, there is a wealth of information here for students investigating a variety of topics. How were children and families catered for in clubs? What are the problems that caused the decline of clubs over the past few decades and how are these being dealt with? Do clubs still have a future in contemporary society?

Students of retail, business, drinking studies and other subjects will find something of interest here for them as well.

The book is thoroughly researched with comprehensives notes in each of the ten chapters and a useful bibliography for further research provided at the end.

The book is available to buy on Amazon for £13 plus p + p or through www.authorhouse.com
It is stocked in Foyles bookshop, Charing Cross Road London (British History section.)

A number of copies are available from the author- please contact through the website.

Hello to any club goers, past and present out there. We are keen to keep alive the club spirit that existed for so long in working men's and other clubs over the years. Ok- so times have changed, but so can clubs to keep themselves at the heart of local communities.
If you would like to know more about what has been going on to write the history of clubs and to bring folk together, please take a look at www.clubhistorians.co.uk
More soon!
RC